Show Reviews

Phans are often misguided about Phish in 1999, they call the jams "aimless" and the band disconnected due to drug usage. People are often afraid of what they don't know or understand, and resort to insults and name-calling. Phish did want to continue playing the '97 Funk Jams for the rest of time, they wanted to experiment and learn other styles. Most of 1999 was putting the Siket Disc out as a live performance on stage and is not the result of "rampant drug use" and a band "lost in the party scene." It was being creative with ambient jams and subtle textures. Almost nightly you could hear the band taking risks and getting wayyyy out there... if these shows were payed today, these same critics would be hailing the band for their incredible ingenuity.

Charlotte 7/7/99 - This is the PERFECT ambient jam filled show from the era. Many, many other shows from 1999 have jaw dropping ambient jams and entire sets filled with incredible ambient improvisational jamming, but very few have the complexity and continuity of this two-set apparition from the steamy underbelly of America. Read More: http://phishfarmhouse.blogspot.com/

The previous reviews are right about a few things; the lot scene, the band's inconsistency really beginning to emerge, etc. But...
I saw plenty of bad shows in '99 and '00 but this one actually ranks among my favorites. It's so swampy and thick. Perfect summer night show. Only other outdoor show from these years i enjoyed as much was the Polaris thunderstorm experience. About 10 minutes of ambient noise before the drop to 2010. My Left Toe ties almost the entire set together. Deep YEM. Make no mistake, the second set was WAY out there, and pretty much an uninterrupted run of intensely psychedelic stuff.
Bad shows aside, this show is exactly why '99 has grown on me over the years. It's great atmosphere music. Their sound was so mindbending back then, and spread across a much larger canvass than they're using now.

For those who find the siket disc Phish’s best studio effort, this - aside from Cypress - is the show. For those who come from a slightly different background (from the typical Phish fan) where the Cure is our Beatles or classic rock, where we’re disheartened by grunge’s truncation of shoegaze, and we’re “still waiting” for the Halloween cover of Yo La Tengo’s I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE - this is the show.

Sure, it starts off rather disjointed. But there’s something to that. “Back on the Train,” Whats’ the Use?,” and “Billy Breathes” are executed the way they should be, but seemingly out of place. Yet, it starts making sense. It bounces around between blue-grass and in-your-face intensity and the styles we’ve been used to from Phish, but those textured and ambient stylings sprinkled throughout were teases of what is to come in the second set, a set coming to terms with Phish’s ’99 direction, and coming to terms with the monster-exploratory set II. Taken as a whole, this show proves Whiteheadian concrescence; the multiplicity and diversity expand into one. What Phish does with their silly antics that reel us back from transcending jams, they simply transcend here, and their songs - not quirkiness - steer us back before setting us out again. This is a different Phish, and that’s what Phish is about. ’99, perhaps the most misunderstood year, is not lost on some. But it doesn’t matter. BMGS and a nostalgia for those loops over loops echoes, “God’s one miracle, lost in circles.”

Oh, and there’s that encore with one of the most genuine and humble musicians in the game. Serious taste.

When any fellow phan asks me to recommend a 1999 show that demonstrates what I mean by "ambient jamming," I send them to this 7/7/99 mind eraser of a show. If they are with me at the time - in the car or at my home - I stop what I am doing and put on the 7/7/99 second set. This is the PERFECT ambient jam filled show from the era. Many, many other shows from 1999 have jaw dropping ambient jams and entire sets filled with incredible ambient improvisational jamming, but very few have the complexity and continuity of this two-set apparition from the steamy underbelly of America.

Highlights include almost every song played at this show and a brilliant special guest encore with Derek Trucks on Possum, and an incendiary take on Funky Bitch.

SET 1
Standard BOTT opener paved the way for Phish to drop What's The Use? for the second time in two shows. Clearly the band knew the power of the song and planned to feed off its cosmic energy. A celestial, time-warped journey through all of the particles in the universe, What's The Use? was a harbinger of how this show would unfold. A subtle, gorgeous version of Billy Breathes followed with patience and virtue in every note. A quick jaunt through MMGAMOIO lead to a first set stunner in Sneakin Sally sans vocal jam. Replacing the vocal jam in this understated but powerful Sally jam was the funkified soul-crushing bass rips of Mike Gordon's insane slap bass line over Trey's tasteful solitary note and staccato chord loops. The ambient layers of the background in this jam are less fuzz and more like a swarm of bees being charmed by an ancient pungi, or bin, from Jaipur - controlled by all members of the band at once (snake charming reference). Bringing the energy back up with a top notch Axilla>Rift, Phish gets ambient and spacey at the end of the Axilla with Fishman talking over the fuzzy distortion in a way that fits perfect with the ambient vibe. Wolfman's Brother follows with a slow-paced, summer-calypso-blues-groove. A perfect first set addition that ambles to a low key ambient transition to Maze. Maze gets a head start with the ambient layers and loops out of Wolfman's and eases into it's relatively standard song setup. Slight ambient distortion from Trey adds to the sublime buildup at the end. And a Loving Cup set closer which almost felt like an encore at that point.

SET 2
For the first 8 minutes of this set, Phish builds an ambient jam out of nothing and builds the disarray to such a heavy fog that the crowd is both mesmerized and befuddled. The tension builds, and builds, and builds, and builds, until it bursts into 2001 at the 8:03 min mark and the crowd erupts. A 14 min ambient journey ensues and rain drenched crowd loves being a part of the steamy mix. Trey's feedback loops through the Leslie speaker creates a palpable ambient backdrop as the band takes time to alter the jam with slow spacey breakdowns (around the 16, 18 and 19 min marks) as well as building the swarm of bees for the final crescendo. I find this version to be the perfect ambient 2001 from start to finish. The dissonent breakdown that follows drops the band into the murky depths that imply the start of a Down with Disease. DWD pulls the band from the depths and soars to the surface as Trey grabs the platform and shakes the listeners with fire-breathing guitar licks on top of Fishman's breakneck tempo. Nothing close to ambient, but a wonderful juxtaposition to the nearly 23 min 2001. Waisting no time, the band seeks to return to ambient bliss but on a lighter note with a tremendous Toe sandwich. My Left Toe>Wading in the Velvet Sea>My Left Toe is a gorgeous, thought-provoking float among the clouds. This My Left Toe sandwich is a meditation on existence and our need for connections to everyone and everything. The lighter sister to What's The Use?, this MLT is a wonderful way to bring both songs to life in separate sets within the same show. Understated and the perfect cool off mid set. A well placed Bug and YEM end the set in true late 90's fashion.

ENCORE: Derek Trucks smoke-show slide guitar for Possum and Funky Bitch provides the final lift of the evening.

this show deserves more love than it gets. it starts off slow, and admittedly by the third song "billy breathes" i started wondering if the band was ever gonna shake the cobwebs off.....but once they went into "my mind's....", they finally got things cooking. from that point on, IMO there wasn't a weak song to be heard the rest of the evening. sure, on occasion they meandered a bit with the ambience, but all in all there were much more positives than negatives. derek trucks joining in on the encores was gravy, ending the night with a bang....

I totally agree with Frankster. 7-7 and 7-8 were probably the worst shows I ever attended. The band's jamming seemed to have little direction or focus. There were times when the band walked out on stage without a set list and relied on the moment to tell them what to play. Sometimes this worked magically. Not so much on these nights. The lots were marred by nasty vibes and even nastier consumption. This was the only tour I saw needles in large numbers. What's the Use? (which I love) as a second song in the first set? That kinda said it all.

On the other hand, this was the first time I heard Derek Trucks. He made Trey look like a little school boy, shredding through the encore like there was no tomorrow. (Was Trey holding back for the kid?) That goes to show that even at the worst shows I have seen, there were still nuggets of magic.

Summer 99 was marred by inconsistent playing both as a tour and within individual shows. In hind sight we now know why. Serious partying before shows permiated the lots as well as back stage. With that being said there is plenty of excellent jamming throughout this tour. This show looks great on paper but unfortunatly doesn't bring home the bacon. The playing here is very sloppy and honestly boring. I am a fan of the layered ambient jams of the late 90's but it sounds like the boys were very high and just couldn't connect with each other. You would think a 22 minute 2001 into DWD would be an epic show piece but here we get aimless wondering. Now thats not to say there aren't some musical high lights. Check out Axilla>Rift and a cool encore with Derick Trucks. Side note: Has there been a show in N.C. where it didn't rain?

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